Tom Verlaine, lead singer and guitarist for punk band Television and creator of 1977’s Marquee Moon, has died at the age of 73. Jesse Paris Smith, Patti Smith’s daughter, confirmed Verlaine’s death to Rolling Stone on Saturday (January 28) after a “brief illness”. “He died peacefully in New York City, surrounded by close friends. We will miss his vision and imagination,” Smith wrote.
“This is a time when anything seemed possible,” Patti Smith wrote in an Instagram tribute that included a photo of her and Verlaine. “Farewell Tom, aloft the Omega.”
Founding of Television
Born Thomas Miller, Verlaine (who borrowed his last name from French poet Paul Verlaine) was a schoolmate of punk icon Richard Hell, with whom he later formed their first bands. On Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Verlaine and Hell came together in the early days of punk, forming the short-lived band Neon Boys before forming the band Television with guitarist Richard Lloyd in 1973.
Verlaine and Television were one of the first bands to hone their sound at legendary punk clubs like Max’s Kansas City and the CBGB – where they became one of the first regular bands. Patti Smith, who once likened Verlaine’s guitar sound to the cry of a thousand blue birds, was in the audience at one of Television’s early performances in 1974 and joined the group the following year when the Patti Smith Group made their CBGB debut.
Soon after, Hell left television and joined the punk band Heartbreakers. Led by Verlaine and Lloyd, the duo developed a guitar sound that blended punk riffs with jazz interplay. After debuting with the 1975 single “Little Johnny Jewel,” Television released their masterpiece — and one of the best albums of the punk era, “Marquee Moon,” centered on the album’s intricate, mesmerizing title track. (The album was, as Rolling Stone noted in its review, “the most interesting and daring” of a string of 1977 releases from CBGB bands like Blondie and the Ramones, but also “the most disturbing”).
listened to Marquee Moon 1000 times. And I mean LISTENED, sitting still, lights down low taking it all in. Awe and wonder every time. Will listen 1000 more. Tom Verlaine is one of the greatest rock musicians ever. He effected the way John and I play immeasurably. Fly on Tom.
— Flea (@flea333) January 29, 2023
“When the members of Television banded together in New York in the early days of punk, there was a mix of genres: the noir howls of the Velvet Underground, intelligent art-rock, the double-helix guitar sculpture of the Quicksilver Messenger Service,” wrote the Rolling Stone on “Marquee Moon”, number 107 on our list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
“As intoxicating in its lyrical ambition as the Ramones’ debut in its brutal simplicity, ‘Marquee Moon’ still amazes,” wrote Rolling Stone. “Friction”, “Venus” and the mighty title track are rugged, desperate and beautiful at the same time. As for punk, don’t forget the cryptic electricity and strangled existentialism of guitarist Tom Verlaine’s voice and songwriting.”
The classic line-up of Television would only release one more album in the 1970s, 1978’s Adventure, before Verlaine launched his solo career. As Patti Smith wrote, Verlaine’s albums showcased “his edgy lyricism and trenchant lyrical jabs, a devious wit, and an ability to strum every chord to its truest emotion.” (The classic Television line-up of Verlaine, Lloyd, bassist Fred Smith and drummer Billy Ficca reunited for one final album – 1992’s Television).
Tom Verlaine – later years
In 1979, Verlaine released his self-titled solo album, which included the song “Kingdom Come,” which was recorded a year later by David Bowie for his 1980 LP Scary Monsters & Super Freaks. As a solo artist, Verlaine remained prolific over the next few decades, seamlessly transitioning from post-punk explorations to purely instrumental EPs, from silent film scores to collaborations with Smith and other former CBGB greats.
Tom Verlaine once lamented that he never wrote about two of the most powerful dreams of his life “because the language of dreams is difficult to convey”. That may be so, but Verlaine still manages to solve this problem better than anyone in his medium, wrote Rolling Stone of Verlaine’s 1982 solo LP Words From the Front. “Like all of his work, there’s something so inspiring yet effortless about Verlaine’s songs that you have to wonder if he’s writing them… well, in his sleep.”